Thursday, August 15, 2013

At a town hall in Welch, OK on Thursday, Rep. Markwayne Mullin
(R-OK) called for the outright elimination of aid programs for
low-income Americans, claiming that he has witnessed food stamp fraud
firsthand. Mullin said he would like to “do away with a lot of these
programs” because they allow people to slack off.
“The food programs are designed to take care of people who can’t
work, not won’t work. And we all know those people that won’t work,
right?” he asked the audience. “They’re abusing the program, and we’ve
got to get them off of it.”
Mullin knows for a fact that food stamps are abused, because he saw
them being used by people who did not fit his idea of what poor people
are supposed to look like:

So I’m in Crystal City and I’m buying my groceries…and I
noticed everybody was giving that card. They had these huge baskets, and
I realized it was the first of the month. But then I’m looking over,
and there’s a couple beside me. This guy was built like a brick house. I mean he had muscles all over him.
He was in a little tank top and pair of shorts and really nice Nike
shoes. And she was standing there, and she was all in shape and she
looked like she had just come from a fitness program. She was in the
spandex, and you know, they were both physically fit. And they
go up in front of me and they pay with that card. Fraud. Absolute 100%
all it is is fraud…it’s all over the place. And there you go, to the fact that we shouldn’t be supporting those who won’t work. They’re spending their money someplace.

Shortly after Markwayne graduated from Stilwell High School, his dad
fell ill and the family’s small plumbing company encountered financial
troubles. Markwayne was only 20 years old but he and his wife, Christie,
took over with only six employees. They had never run a business, but
his dad had taught him the value of hard work and discipline.
Markwayne and Christie not only stabilized Mullin Plumbing, but grew
it into one of the largest service companies in the tri-state area.
Today, it is only one of several successful companies they own,
including Mullin Farms, Mullin Properties and Mullin Services.
Mullin is proud to have turned a family trade into a thriving
business. Mullin Plumbing is most recognized due to its advertising and
the more than 100 employees known for their hallmark red vans visible
servicing Oklahomans across the state. For his part, Markwayne
personally promotes the company through television and radio
advertising. One of his favorite jobs is to produce and host the radio
call-in talk show “House Talk.”

Yes he is a true American because he built his business with his own two hands!**

After winning his GOP House primary in 2012, Mullin remarked
“government needs to have a limited role in our lives. We can take care
of ourselves.” Of course, it is easier to take care of yourself after
the federal government cuts you a few checks totaling 370 grand

Mullin declined to answer questions about the contracts. His campaign released a statement in which Mullin criticized the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 as a “horrible waste of tax dollars” but defended his company’s acceptance of federal dollars.

Detroit is broke because it's empty. Detroit is empty because a) Race riots in the 60's scared away middle class families-which are the lifeblood of any community b) The jobs went away.The jobs went away because UAW made the big three too top heavy to compete with foreign manufacturers. Sprinkle in well-meaning social programs which benefit administrators instead of the intended community and...viola! What's left is thousands of empty buildings, miles of unpatroled streets, kids living in fear, rampant drug violence, and depreciated municipal assets.THIS is what happens to places run by unions. They get sucked dry (like oil wells) and abandoned. If you own property in Chicago, you might want to sell while you can.

"Took money from a program?" Either you are accusing me of embezzlement or of living off a welfare program, neither of which is correct. I spent half my life in the private sector with a defined contribution pension program. I plowed everything I could spare into that from my own pocket. I did the same, through deferred compensation, in the half of my career spent in government. At certain points, amounting to 15% of my salary. In other words, money out of my own pocket.

Cry me a river that current employees must spend 6% out of pocket -- for what they get. Even the UAW workers don't have it so good. Don't even mention 90% of private sector workers. But you don't care about them, Deservedly Anonymous.

You just want yours and to hell with everyone else, including 90% of the taxpayers. Great message. How did that work in the recall elections and in last fall's state government elections?

When you consider that the stock market has appreciated, and thus grown my savings, yes. But if I live long enough -- in other words, if I beat the actuarial estimates -- then the defined benefits pension will pay me more than I put in.

Just so you understand a complex subject, the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) relies on four sources of income: 1) as part of its non-salary compensation to the employee, the government entity contributes a percentage based on that salary towards the WRS pension. 2) The employee contributes a like amount, currently 6.65%, depending on the needs of the WRS to remain solvent. (From 1983 to 2011, the state picked up almost all of the employee portion.) 3) Employees can contribute more than the required employee portion through a program called Deferred Compensation. This portion is not matched by the employer. 4) The fourth source of income for the WRS is the appreciation and dividends of its investments in stocks and bonds. These investments are the fuel that keeps the retirement system solvent; they account for about 3/4 of the system's resources. These investments are made by highly paid professionals in the State of Wisconsin Investment Board.

To show the system's reliance on the real world of investments, annuitants who retired prior to the year 2000 have lost about $5,000 of their average $25,000 annual pension due to those stock market losses. (The WRS uses a "smoothing" system that rolls out gains and losses over five years to reduce lurches in retirement income.)

Each employee's pension is different, depending on years worked in covered employment, highest three years of salary, whether in protective, elective, or regular service, and the payment plan. An employee with a low salary who worked only a few years in WRS-covered employment will get a small pension as compared to a high-salaried veteran of, say, 40 years.

What distinguishes this kind of pension from a defined contribution pension, which I also earned through my private sector employment, is that it is possible to receive benefits that exceed your contribution (and that of the employer match) if you beat the actuarial tables survival prediction. For every retiree who does, however, there is another who dies before realizing all his/her benefits.

Another difference is that, during the recent economic recession, many private sector employers quit their employee match. If they offered a pension at all.